Sunday, June 28, 2015

COME CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF WILLIE DIXONWednesday, July 1, 2015Show Time: 5pm to 8pmConcert in the Garden Area

July 1, 2015 would have been Willie's 100th birthday. To honor this brilliant songwriter, producer, musician, and to celebrate his life and accomplishments, Blues Heaven Foundation is holding a free concert featuring Chicago's phenomenal blues guitarist, Melvin Taylor & the Taylor Made Band.

Willie Dixon was one of the most prolific songwriters of all time with over 500 songs to his credit. He's been referred to as the "father of the modern Chicago blues". His songs have been recorded by hundreds of artists across all genres - the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Tina Turner and Fleetwood Mac to name a few. Willie Dixon has been recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame (2004), his influence in pop music was selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry. Recently, June 2015, Willie Dixon was inducted in to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Melvin Taylor is a masterful performer, composer & producer. His extraordinary talent has taken him around the globe many times over the last 20 years. He began touring Europe at age 20 with Pinetop Perkins Legendary Blues Band. He made an immediate impact on the European circuit, and began opening for BB King for a couple of years. Melvin has performed at world class festival, theaters, held master classes at top music school and conservatories. He has 9 CD's to his credit. Please visit Melvin's website for detailed info: www.melvintaylormusic.com

(born Christopher Russell Edward Squire on March 4, 1948;
died on June 27, 2015)

Chris Squire began his musical career as a choirboy, which gave him an insight into vocal arrangements and techniques that were of influence throughout his career. His melodic style of playing bass guitar made him a highly influential performer. He formed Yes in 1968 with vocalist Jon Anderson, and as of June 28 2015, Chris is the only member of the band to appear on every Yes studio album. His 1975 solo effort "Fish Out Of Water" is highly regarded as a masterpiece (I was 12 when I got my copy as a birthday gift from my godfather, Sergio Vid). Rest in Peace.

Friday, June 26, 2015

News from Jack Wilkins: "I'll be in a trio with Phil Markowitz on piano and Andy McKee on bass this Sunday, June 28, at Sarah's Wine Bar." Sets at 6:30 and 7:45pm. Don't miss if you are in the Connecticut area.

Jazz goes global at the 2nd annual Made in NY Jazz Gala with one of most diverse lineups of jazz performers ever assembled in one place.

"What an exciting weekend... I'm honored to be performing tomorrow night at TriBeCa PAC with special guests Randy Randy Brecker & Bobby Sanabria. It's going to be so exciting to share my music with these giants and accept my award for 2nd place in the Made in NY Jazz Competition on the same stage," Thana Alexa says. "What a thrill to have these giants play my arrangements! Helping me out will also be the incomparable Eden Ladin, Noam Wiesenberg & Peter Kronreif. Come check us out!"

"The next morning I fly to LA to finish off the US tour with Antonio Sanchez & Migration. We play the Moss Theater in LA, Cafe Stritch in San Jose and then 2 nights at Jazz Alley in Seattle. I love this life!"

The gala concert will feature the winners and a lineup of Made in New York jazz competition entrants whose video performances wowed the Internet.
An International line up from: Great Britain, Turkey, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina, USA, Israel, Germany and Chile!

Today, Al Di Meola receives the Miles Davis Award 2015 for Lifetime Achievement presented by the Montreal Jazz Festival. This award recognizes his entire works as an internationally renowned jazz musician and his contribution to continuing the tradition of jazz. Past recipients include Keith Jarrett, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and more. Many congrats, Al!

(born Pedro Geraldo Camargo Rocha on April 08, 1941 in São Paulo, SP, Brazil;
died on June 24, 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil)

Brazilian writer, lyricist, painter, graphic designer, actor and movie director. He was one of my film teachers at the PUC University (the other was Silvio Tendler).

But I already knew him from many dinners at the famous Lamas Restaurant (Yana Purim, to whom I was married in the early 80s, introduced us), and I already admired him since I heard Wilson Simonal's recording of his masterpiece as lyricist: the bossa ballad "Chuva", co-written in 1964 with Durval Ferreira, originally introduced on the debut album by the group Os Gatos -- to which he also did the LP artwork -- and later covered by Gaya, Dick Farney, Walter Wanderley, Claudette Soares, Sylvia Telles, Elizeth Cardoso, Manfredo Fest, Baden Powell and many more.

Sometimes known as "Rain," it was officially retitled "The Day It Rained" after Ray Gilbert added English lyrics recorded by Sylvia Telles, Sarah Vaughan, The Girls From Bahia (Quarteto Em Cy) and so on. Its most recent recording was done by the superb LA-based Polish singer Beata Pater on her "Golden Lady" CD, released here in the U.S. in 2014.

Camargo collaborated with the late guitarist Durval Ferreira in some other songs, starting with "Sozinha de Você" for Tita Lobo's debut album, "Tita" (1964), that was followed by amazing lyrics to "Verdade em Paz" (sung by Tito Madi and Dóris Monteiro, as well as recorded as an instrumental tune on Walter Wanderley's CTI debut, "When It Was Done"), "Encanto Triste" (written for Rosana Toledo's "Momento Novo" LP but also included on Eumir Deodato's second album, "Idéias"), "Tudo Que É Preciso" (recorded by Johnny Alf) and "Porque Somos Iguais" (featured on Deodato's "Ataque" LP with his band Os Catedráticos in 1965, as well as on Emilio Santiago's debut album released exactly ten years later, in 1975.)

In the pop area, he co-wrote (with the long-forgotten José Ary) in 1967 "É Tempo de Amar" for the best-selling album "Roberto Carlos Em Ritmo de Aventura." Camargo and Ary also wrote "Canção de Voltar" for the legendary bossa nova vocal group Os Cariocas.

During his childhood, Camargo studied piano with Vera Bertucci, Nise Obino and Lúcia Branco. In 1959, he composed the soundtrack for Andrej Widrzinski's stage play "O sol gira em torno da terra." That was the first of several works as composer for TV and movies. He directed five award winning movies, among them "O Estranho Triângulo" (1970; btw, how much I treasure the album "O Fino da Música No Cinema Brasileiro"!) and "Amor E Traição" (1979), the latter presented in many European film festivals. Rest in Peace.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Maverick Concerts, the oldest continuous professional summer chamber music festival in America, announces the opening of its 100th season on Saturday, June 27, at 8:00 pm, with a concert by NEXUS, the masterful percussion group, who did a great album with the late flutist Paul Horn.

The program features the premiere of Peter Schickele's Percussion Sonata No. 3, "Maverick." Mr. Schickele will be in attendance for the premiere of his work, which was commissioned by Garry and Diane Kvistad and the Woodstock Chimes Fund for the Centenary of the Maverick Concerts.

All Maverick concerts are held in the historic concert hall, 120 Maverick Road, Woodstock, N.Y. 12498. The hall was hand-built in 1916 in a woodland glade just two miles from the center of town.

In addition to the Schickele premiere, the program includes "Sky Ghost" (with special guest performers Amy Fradon and Kirsti Gholson), by NEXUS member Russell Hartenberger, as well as his Persian Songs, arrangements by the renowned classical Iranian singer/instrumentalist Sepideh Raissadat. Also on the program are ragtime tunes for xylophone by the late Woodstock composer/xylophonist George Hamilton Green arranged by NEXUS member Bob Becker.

NEXUS and Ms. Raissadat will be giving a free concert for young people on the same day, Sat., June 27, at 11:00 a.m.

Mr. Schickele's Third Percussion Sonata is a work in three movements, with a lively toccata, a quiet romanza, and a finale titled "Vaudeville." "Sky Ghost" is from Hartenberger's composition Invisible Proverb, which, along with Schickele's Percus sion Sonata No. 2, is on the NEXUS album Drumtalker. Persian Songs is an arrangement of music by Reza Ghassemi, an enormously popular and influential expatriate Iranian musician and novelist.

The New York Times has called NEXUS "the high priests of the percussion world." Steve Reich declared them "probably the most acclaimed percussion group on earth." NEXUS is in the Percussion Hall of Fame (along with Ringo Starr) and tours extensively. In the four decades since its founding, the group has participated in international festivals, at the Kennedy Center, at the BBC Proms, and in Carnegie Hall. The group is made up of four master percussionists internationally revered for their virtuosity, innovation, and extraordinary music-making. NEXUS's famed collaborations with Paul Horn, the Canadian Brass, the Kronos Quartet, and others have created repertoire ranging from novelty ragtime and haunting African rhythms through award-winning improvised film music and ground-breaking compositions.

Composer, musician, author, parodist Peter Schickele is internationally recognized as one of the most versatile musical artists in the world. He has composed more than 100 works, for symphony orchestras, choral groups, chamber ensembles, and voice. John Rockwell of The New York Times has described him as having "a leading role in the ever-more-prominent school of American composers who unselfconsciously blend all levels of American music."

His commissions for distinguished instrumentalists and singers are numerous and varied, and include works for the National Symphony, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Opera, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Audubon and Lark String Quartets, the Minnesota Orchestral Association, and many others. Mr. Schickele has created music for feature films, documentaries, television programs and commercials, and B roadway theater, including Oh! Calcutta! Besides composing music under his own name, Mr. Schickele has developed an elaborate parodic persona built around his "studies" of P.D.Q. Bach, the fictional "youngest and the oddest of the twenty-odd children" of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Sepideh Raissadat, a key figure in the new generation of classical Persian song interpreters, is the most famous vocalist in Iran, a country that does not permit solo public performances by women. Her fame is all the more extraordinary in that her music is accessible in her native country only by way of pirated recordings. Ms. Raissadat has given concerts in Europe and North America under the auspices of the Vatican, UNESCO, the BBC, and Voice of America. NEXUS and Sepideh have collaborated on several concerts in Canada and the United States, and their recording of Persian Songs will be released soon.

For additional details, including a schedule of concerts, ticket prices, and seating information, visit www.maverickconcerts.org or call Maverick's recorded message line at 845-679-8217.

Maverick Concerts, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. The concerts are made possible in part with an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; support from the County of Ulster's Ulster County Cultural Services & Promotions Fund, administered by Arts Mid-Hudson; the Maverick Concerts Endowment Fund; Friends of Maverick; the towns of Woodstock and Hurley; loca l businesses; individual donors; and other public and private foundations. Yamaha is the Official Piano of Maverick Concerts. The C7X grand piano in the Maverick Concert Hall is a generous loan from Yamaha Artists Services.

Monday, June 22, 2015

One of the best singers in the contemporary jazz scene, thw wondrous Ellen Johnson -- who is currently receiving rave reviews for her new album, "Form & Formless" and recently wrote an acclaimed book about Sheila Jordan titled "Jazz Child" -- will be doing some workshops on "Improvising for Singers" this Summer, with Keith Saunders on piano. An opportunity to work on improvising skills or be introduced to the "art" of improvising at the California Jazz Conservatory. Register online or by phone.https://cjc.edu/workshops/?eid=9607

From the Ground Up and Into the Future...
In Memoriam
New England Conservatory Remembers Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller's family, friends, contemporaries, faculty, and students are in mourning over the news of his death June 21, but the trailblazing energy surrounding this man is so great, even his in memoriam feels like a chance for new understandings and transformation. As New England Conservatory President, Gunther Schuller steered NEC through one of the most turbulent and formative decades of American and Conservatory history, beginning with NEC's centennial year.

During his tenure as President from 1967-1977, as the Western world rocked to the rhythms of social upheaval and burgeoning youth culture, Schuller formalized NEC's commitment to jazz by establishing the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory.

Schuller hired Carl Atkins as founding chair of the department, and worked with Atkins to develop the first curriculum and secure such legendary faculty as Jaki Byard and George Russell. Shortly thereafter, he instituted the Third Stream department (which lives on today as Contemporary Improvisation) to explore the regions where the two musical "streams" of classical and jazz meet and mingle, and hired the iconic Ran Blake to be its chair.

Gunther Schuller's NEC Presidency

Schuller increased NEC's profile among the world's great music institutions in remarkable ways. He insisted from the earliest days of his tenure that contemporary music have equal billing next to the acknowledged classical masterpieces, and that students be equally adept at performing both. He bolstered and revitalized NEC's string, piano and composition faculties, hiring artists whose influence remains intact to this day, among them Frank Battisti, Frank Epstein, John Heiss, Rudolf Kolisch, Louis Krasner, Laurence Lesser, Donald Martino, and Russell Sherman.

In one of Boston's most notorious periods of racial disharmony, he created community outreach programs that sent young, eager musicians to bring the gift of music into some of the city's most marginalized neighborhoods. And, championing the forgotten music of a neglected American composer, he founded the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble and recorded Scott Joplin: The Red Back Book, which won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, ignited a latter-day ragtime revival, and spurred tours across America, Russia, and to the White House.

Schuller's presidency was marked by unprecedented creative energy and growth, but also by controversy and fiscal distress. During the Vietnam War era, no colleges were immune from upheaval. At a time of protest "strikes" that shut down academic activities nationwide, NEC was unable to hold a Commencement for its Class of 1970 (President Daniel Steiner invited them to walk belatedly with the Class of 2000).

At the same time, music was brought into play as a creative response to war. But by the time of Schuller's resignation as President in 1977, the Board of Trustees was revitalized, a new era of financial responsibility had dawned, and applications were arriving in record numbers.

Schuller's immediate predecessor as president, Chester Williams, said, "one of his greatest contributions to the Conservatory was that he generated excitement for performing at the highest level. Holding a high level of professional achievement himself, he accepted nothing less than the best." But perhaps Schuller's greatest legacy at NEC was the personal vision of training he brought to produce the "complete musician"-one who embraced music styles of the past and present, and who looked toward the future with intelligence and artistic curiosity. NEC became less a place where the traditions of European music were conserved, and more a hothouse where exotic new hybrids could propagate and flourish.

Among recognition of Schuller's work in broad areas of music are the Pulitzer Prize in composition, Ditson Conductor's Award, MacArthur Fellowship, and NEA Jazz Masters Award. NEC bestowed an honorary Doctor of Music degree on Gunther Schuller at commencement ceremonies in 1978.

NEC's Jazz Studies Department, initially led by Carl Atkins, was the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The brainchild of Gunther Schuller, who moved quickly to incorporate jazz into the curriculum when he became President of the Conservatory in 1967, the Jazz Studies faculty has included six MacArthur "genius" grant recipients (three currently teaching) and four NEA Jazz Masters, and alumni that reads like a who's who of jazz.

Now in its 46th year, the program has spawned numerous Grammy winning composers and performers. As Mike West writes in JazzTimes: "NEC's jazz studies department is among the most acclaimed and successful in the world; so says the roster of visionary artists that have comprised both its faculty and alumni." The program is under the leadership of department chair Ken Schaphorst.

Founded in 1972 by musical visionaries Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake, New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation program is "one of the most versatile in all of music education" (JazzEd). Now in its 43rd year, the program trains composer/performer/improvisers to broaden their musical palettes and develop unique voices.

It is unparalleled in its structured approach to ear training and its emphasis on singing, memorization, harmonic sophistication, aesthetic integrity, and stylistic openness. Under Blake's inspired guidance for its first twenty-six years, the program grew considerably and has expanded its offerings under current chair Hankus Netsky and assistant chair Eden MacAdam-Somer.

Gunther Schuller impacted the lives of many students and faculty members at New England Conservatory. Many claim his ideas as the primary foundation for all of their understandings about new music and its development throughout their entire careers. John Heiss, Ken Schaphorst, and Frank Epstein discuss their mentor, colleague and inspiration below.

John Heiss

Composer, conductor, flutist, and teacher, John Heiss has had works performed around the world. He has received awards and commissions from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, Fromm Foundation, NEA, Rockefeller Foundation, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, ASCAP, and the Guggenheim Foundation. His principal publishers are Boosey & Hawkes, E.C. Schirmer, and Elkus & Son. Heiss has been principal flute of Boston Musica Viva and has performed with many local ensembles, including the BSO. Starting in the 1970s, Heiss has directed many NEC festivals dedicated to composers or themes, and has spearheaded visits to NEC by many composers, including Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Berio, Carter, Messiaen, Schuller, and Tippett.

John Heiss Credits Gunther Schuller for Helping Launch His Career:

"I knew of Gunther in New York in the '60s; he was an important figure in Jazz and Classical music. I actually met him in the happiest of ways. I was practicing playing multi-phonics on my flute at Princeton, this was normal for strings, but not for brass. Gunther called to congratulate me about an article he'd seen on this in Perspectives of New Music and asked me if I would meet him in New York the following weekend. He then asked me if I wanted a job at New England Conservatory! He hired me as a theory teacher and also nourished my young musical career. Every assignment he gave me I approached with full gusto. At the time I was hired, NEC was in trouble and Gunther came in and lit a bonfire. He created the jazz department, hired a great opera director and numerous new faculty members, many of whom stayed. I can't imagine how my life or NEC would have been without him."

John Heiss on Gunther's Composing:

"Gunther Schuller will be known posthumously as one of the greatest American composers that has ever lived...he will be around until the end of time," said John Heiss. "He was very warm, curious about everything, and so masterful about his craft - he's had a big life and an incredible life - he will be seen as a Copland or Bernstein, but he's much more avant-garde of course. Gunther brought Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington and Charles Ives back to life, because he thought they had equal stature to Beethoven.""The memorial concert we're currently planning for November 19 here at NEC will be a 70-year retrospective of his work, performed by faculty and students, and a loving and most heartfelt tribute to his life achievement."

Ken Schaphorst

Since coming to NEC as Chair of the Jazz Studies and Improvisation Department in 2001, Schaphorst has directed the Jazz Orchestra in its performance of new music and traditional big band repertoire. In recent years, the ensemble has performed under the direction of guest artists Django Bates, Jimmy Heath, John Hollenbeck, Jim McNeely and Maria Schneider. Named Best College Big Band in the 2004 Downbeat Student Music Awards, the ensemble has won critical acclaim for its recordings and for its performances throughout the country. Schaphorst also works with high school-age students at NEC with the Youth Jazz Orchestra, which he founded in 2008, and the summer Jazz Lab program since 2013.

He had this to say about Gunther Schuller:

"Gunther Schuller was one of the most inspiring, contentious, honest and uncompromising individuals I've ever known. Every time I brought him to NEC to work with my students I felt as if I was being tested myself. Gunther would always let us know how we could hear better, play better and communicate the ideas of the composer more faithfully. And on the very rare instances when I prepared the students well enough, or conducted well enough to satisfy him, his words of encouragement were all the more meaningful. I'm going to miss him."

Frank Epstein

A native of Amsterdam, percussionist Frank Epstein came to the United States in 1952, settling in Hollywood, and joining the BSO in 1968. He is currently the chairman of the Percussion and Brass departments at the New England Conservatory. Epstein has made recordings with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BSO, and the Boston Pops, as well as with Collage New Music. As founder of Collage, and music director from its inception in 1972 through 1991, Epstein has overseen the commissioning and performance of more than 200 new works written especially for the ensemble as well as the production of 17 recordings. Epstein was awarded a presidential commendation from NEC for his work with Collage.

He discussed how Gunther transformed his life:

"Gunther was the center of my universe musically speaking and his death will leave a huge hole in our community and one much wider in the world. He was in touch with so many people over all the years and impacted the careers of so many musicians. He has truly been an incredible force in the new music community. He will be really missed. He, more than anybody, is responsible for my views, which really started to develop 45 years ago. His view of music, all of it, should be played to the best ability possible no matter what the style or content of the material is."People have distinct opinions about how music should be. Gunther was very open- minded and I tend to be that way and I am open to playing all possible styles."Gunther helped my ensemble 44 years ago - he was the guest conductor. Many of Gunther's pieces, especially his "Grand Concerto for Percussion and Keyboards" takes you from the ground up and into the future - it's really an incredible piece."

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The only album ever recorded by the vocal trio Umas & Outras is coming out today, June 17, 2015, in Japan, by Universal Music LLC, as part of the Suburbia Suite Collection series. Although the album had been previously reissued there on vinyl some years ago, it's the first time it is being released on CD format anywhere on Earth. And, although the group recorded a few other tracks for compilations and TV soundtracks ("Assim Na Terra Como No Céu," "Irmãos Coragem," "Tempo de Viver") during a short-lived career, they never recorded another full LP.

Originally recorded in 1970 for the Polydor label in Rio de Janeiro, "Poucas E Boas" was propelled by the track "Pigmalião," composed by Marcos Valle, Paulo Sergio Valle and Novelli to be used as the main (opening) theme for the soap opera "Pigmalião 70." Actually, the group recorded it in a lovely wordless version, without Paulo Sergio's lyrics, that were recorded only a few months later, by a singer called Evinha (from another vocal group, Trio Esperança), after the song became a hit.

Formed by Dorinha Tapajós, Malu Balona and the most-in-demand backing vocalist from Rio's busy studio scene at that era, Regininha (not to be mistaken with Elis Regina), Umas & Outras recorded a beautiful project that also included a hip tune written by guitarist Nelson Angelo ("Caminhão Amarelo") and two by his wife at that time, Joyce ("Please Garçon" and "Abrace Paul McCartney Por Mim"), plus a psychedelic gem by guitarist Fredera aka Frederyko Mendonça de Oliveira ("No Nepal Tudo É Barato") and a surprising song co-written by Haroldo Tapajós & Vinicius de Moraes ("Loura Ou Morena.")

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Unsung Heroes, the combo led by master trumpeter Brian Lynch (who performed in the latest incarnation of the CTI All Stars) will be pulling into Camden, NJ -- just across the river from Philly -- for a free evening concert under the stars. The band features Brian's old Horace Silver bandmate of many moons ago, Ralph Moore, one of the giants of the tenor saxophone. Rob Schneiderman on piano, Gerald Cannon on bass, and Pete Van Nostrand on drums round out this swinging quintet. Come join us!

For years this class was given only at Manhattan School of Music. Jack will now be giving an 8-week course (two hours a week) of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century. Classes will be no more than eight participants. The class will cover such giants of jazz guitar such as Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang, George Van Eps, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Billy Bauer, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, Jimmy Raney, Chuck Wayne, Johnny Smith, Joe Pass, Billy Bean, George Barnes, Rene Thomas, Wes Montgomery, Hank Garland, Howard Roberts, Grant Green, George Benson and many others.

Recordings, transcriptions, demonstrations, and videos will show how these players were able to execute such amazing phrases and chordal work on the guitar. There will be an occasional surprise guest as well. The class will be held in the evening. Wednesday evening from 6pm till 8pm. The class will take place at 609 Columbus Ave. apt# 10F at West 90th street (New York, NY.) To enroll, please contact Jack through jackwilkinsguitar@yahoo.com

Private lessons with Jack are also available. Please call (212) 873-2181 for further details. Dates of the class will be starting in September, 2015.
Cost of the class will be $500 for the entire 8 weeks. That would be $250 for 4 in advance and $250 after the 4th class. Students will be given $100 discount.
CD's and videos will be available gratis.

This next Saturday, June 20, @ The 9 on Vine (1253 Vine St. Unit 1, Los Angeles, CA), DVNT Events Presents "Amanda Darling - Uprising."
Arrive early for dinner and refreshments, 9 on Vine is a lovely full restaurant and bar. Sets start with Contessa at 10pm. Amanda Darling starts at 11 to 2am!

"I'm getting sooo excited for my 3 hour set," Amanda says. "I'll also be projecting my all-original visualizers during my set and rumor has it I might be singing live with a baby grand piano on stage...! If you're not going to EDC, please come & support!"

Can't make it to EDC this Year? ★ Enjoy a fantastic night of Electro House / Trance / Tech House right here in L.A.! 9 on Vine has the best drink specials all night! Dinner is served until Join us for a legendary night with friends!
★ Don't miss this amazing and electrifying double-bill with Amanda and Contessa! ★

TAXI really, really wants to nail this Feature Film placement. It’s a cool film with big stars, and they’re having a hard time finding the right song. Somebody reading this has to have what this Music Supervisor needs!LIGHT, ROMANTIC JAZZ SONGS with Female Vocals are U-R-G-E-N-T-L-Y needed for a NON-Exclusive Placement by the Music Supervisor of a Big Budget, Hollywood Feature Film. She’s eagerly searching for Down-Tempo Songs that are in the general stylistic wheelhouse of the references below. Please give them a listen to get an idea of the overall vibe this Music Supervisor is looking so hard to find:“Once Upon A Summertime” by Blossom Dearie:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teFWHnJUH5k

"You Started Something" by Rosemary Clooney:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16_oSsm6n0 Quoting the source: “This is a really tight deadline, and we’re fairly desperate to find something with a romantic vibe and a really great vocal performance.” We know the Rosemary Clooney example has a larger compliment of instrumentation, but ideally, they want original songs done with a small ensemble and authentic light Jazz instrumentation. They’re NOT looking for a rip off, copy, or sound-a-like of the referenced songs, but they do need something could be found on the same romantic playlist! Give them something light and dreamy with an intimate, tender, and romantic delivery on the Female Vocal.Songs that feature piano or guitar (or both) are okay for this pitch, but we think piano pieces will have a slight edge!Lyric themes can vary, but if you have something that mentions “summer” or “summertime,” that might put a big smile of this Music Supervisor’s face. Other than mentions of summer-related ideas, you’d be wise to keep your lyrics universal, avoiding references to specific names, places, dates, times, brands, and profanity. Do NOT copy or rip off the referenced songs in any way shape or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall texture. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine).The estimated license fee for this is $1000, depending on the ultimate use. This is a Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music Supervisor pitch, so you’ll keep 100% of the sync fee and your Master and Publishing rights, plus you’ll also get 100% of any applicable performance royalties. You must own or control the Master Recording and Copyright to pitch for this opportunity. All songs will be screened on a Yes/No basis. No full critiques. Please submit 1-3 songs no later than NOON (PDT), WEDNESDAY, June 17th, 2015. TAXI #U150617JZ www.taxi.com

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Born Ivson Wanderley Pessoa, the extremely underrated Brazilian guitarist and composer Ivinho just passed away in the night of June 12, 2015 in his native city of Recife, State of Pernambuco, at age 62. Among his fans was Luiz Bonfá, who loved his style on the 12-string guitar.

I was exposed to his brilliant artistry through the album pictured above, "Ivinho Ao Vivo" (Nonesuch/WEA), recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1978 when he was the opening act for the group A Cor do Som and the pop singer Gilberto Gil. At that time, he lived in Europe, after periods in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Recently, he had reactivated the psychedelic/progressive rock band Ave Sangria, and got the rights to reissue their self-ttled debut album done in 1974 for the Continental label; the CD came out in late 2004 on the Ripohlandya label that also released a double-album with live material, "Perfumes & Batachos." Among his other albums are "Caçador de Frutas" (1988) that he shared with his brother Sinay Pessoa, and "A Turma do Beco do Barato (2009)," an all-star session with reuniting the top musicians from Recife. Rest in Peace.

In the jazz world, few instrumentalists have been able to sing so beautifully as they play(ed): Chet Baker and Nat 'King Cole' were the most successful ones. Roy Kral, from the Jackie & Roy duo, was a great singer too, but never recorded a solo album. Others, like Oscar Peterson, hugely influenced (as a singer) by Cole, rarely recorded vocal sessions. Some - from Milt Jackson to Randy Brecker - did occasional singing adventures. What could we expect if some of the best musicians ever, like Miles Davis and Bill Evans, decided to sing? Better not.

Such vocal incursions are even rarer among arrangers. Michel Legrand loves to sing, and often does it with abandon, but usually with constraining results. Another genius, Don Sebesky, did short vocal performances in the landmark "Giant Box" album, but that was all. Actually, I would dream, for curiosity only, to listen to "vocal projects" by Claus Ogerman, Bob James or Vince Mendoza. Don't you?

Well, this gorgeous albums by Carlos Franzetti, one of the world's greatest arrangers, showcases his huge vocal talents in a surprising way. A marvelous way, indeed. I can only remember of my late friend Bobby Scott as a maestro equally capable to sing so marvelously as he composed and arranged for orchestra.

During the '70s, Scott recorded some vocal pop gems for Columbia, backed by large ensembles, but his vocal masterpieces were done in his final years, in the late 80s: "For Sentimental Reasons" and the posthomous release "Slowly," both recorded with the backing only of bass, drums and rhythm guitar for the MusicMasters label.

Franzetti achieves similar success in a trio format on this impeccable "You Must Believe In Spring" album. With unobstrusive & infallible backing by bassist Karl Kaminski and drummer Ed Uribe, he uses his velvety voice to deliver dreamy performances of such gems as Leah Worth/Bobby Troup's "The Meaning of The Blues" (one of my favorite ballads ever, here in one of its best versions ever alongside the one by Mark Murphy, not to mention the way Jim Pugh's trombone "sang" it on Woody Herman's Grammy-winning "Giant Steps" album), Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart's "It Never Entered My Mind," Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein's "The Folks Who Live On The Hill," Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time" and, of course, Legrand's title track, the haunting "You Must Believe In Spring." Essential.

Orginally recorded in 1969 for the famous Elenco label, when it had already been sold by Aloysio de Oliveira (by then once again living here in the USA) to the Companhia Brasileira de Discos (CBD, later known as Phonogram, PolyGram and currently Universal Music), "Terra À Vista" is the one & only album released by the Terra Trio. Never reissued in Brazil in any format, it's available in Japan through the "Pérolas Brasileiras" series of Think! Records, distributed by Disk Union.

Founded by pianist & arranger José Maria Rocha, and brothers Fernando Costa (bassist) and Ricardo Costa (drummer), the group was influenced by both Tamba Trio and Os Cariocas, but in a post-bossa vein. All members also loved to sing, and the trio spent many years as the backing band for songstress Maria Bethania. Btw, the first time I saw them live was in 1975, when, invited by my much missed friend Maestro Gaya, I attended for several nights the "Chico Buarque & Maria Bethania" show at the now-defunct Canecão venue in Rio de Janeiro, where the singers performed for several months. Gaya was the Musical Director, the conductor and did all orchestral arrangements for that engagement; the Terra Trio was the "rhythm section."

Their debut & last album was co-produced by bossa nova singer Nara Leão and composer-singer Sidney Miller. The repertoire ranges from "old" sambas (some of them composed in the 20s and 30s) to "new" sambas such as Paulinho Da Viola's "Recado," written in 1964. Ernesto Nazareth's "Odeon," a classic "Brazilian tango," dates from 1910! But the group also flirted with the tropicalia through Caetano Veloso's "Ave Maria" (from the iconic "Tropicalia" album) and Veloso/Torquato Neto's "Deus Vos Salve Esta Casa Santa," while evoking the genius Heitor Villa-Lobos' in the brilliant arrangement for Sidney Miller's "Passa Passa Gavião."

My personal favorite tracks: Herivelto Martins' "Nega Manhosa," an obscure samba but by the long-forgotten Osvaldo Chaves Ribeiro (aka Gadé) titled "Faustina," Noel Rosa/Vadico's haunting "Pra Que Mentir" (introduced by Silvio Caldas in 1939 and revived in recent years by both Paulinho da Viola and Caetano Veloso), another samba gem composed in 1956 by Paquito, Boex and Romeu Gentil titled "Era De Madrugada," and two hilarious Portuguese versions written by Aloysio de Oliveira for the standard "On The Sunny Side of the Street" (that became "A Sobrinha da Judite," previously covered by the Girls From Bahia, aka Quarteto Em Cy, on the "Revolución Con Brasilia!") and for Herman Hupfeld's (famous for the huge hit "As Time Goes By" from the "Casablanca" soundtrack, and here mispelled Hermann Heupfeld in the liner notes) "When Yuba Plays The Tuba," retitled "Zé da Tuba." Cheers!

"Young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez sounds the way Monk might have sounded if he had been born in Chick Corea's body and raised on a diet of Bach, Chopin and Stravinsky in a Havana conservatory." - San Jose Mercury News - (Richard Scheinin)

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

"People are going to talk about you, especially when they envy you and the life you live. Let them. You affected their lives, they didn't affect yours... you will eventually lose someone you love & love someone you never thought you'd find..."

Arnaldo DeSouteiro - Short Bio

Music Producer (with over 530 albums to his credit according to the All Music Guide), Voting Member of NARAS-GRAMMY and Jazz Journalists Association (NY), Member of LAJS (Los Angeles Jazz Society), Musical Philosopher, Journalist, Jazz & Brazilian Music Historian, Publicist, Public Relations, Composer (having written successful jazz & pop songs, some dance hits like "O Passarinho" for the Italian TV reality show "La Pupa e Il Secchione", and "Samba da Copa" for the "2006 World Cup" in Germany, plus many other soundtracks for movies, soap operas & TV series in the USA -- PBS, BET, Universal Cable etc --, Europe and Asia), Lyricist (he wrote lyrics to Dave Brubeck's "Broadway Bossa Nova" at the invitation of Brubeck himself, among other songs), Arranger, Percussionist, Keyboardist, Programmer, Educator (conducting clinics and panel sessions worldwide as the first Brazilian member of IAJE-International Association of Jazz Educators during its existence). He has also acted as consultant for several companies and jazz festivals all over the world.

Founder and CEO of JSR (Jazz Station Records), a Division of Jazz Station Marketing & Consulting - LA, Calif. Most recently, founded LaCalifUSA Pictures and JSR Casting in 2007 for movie & TV productions featuring music & fashion.

Produced special compilations for Quincy Jones ("Summer in the City - The Soul Jazz Grooves of Quincy Jones"), Chick Corea ("Electric Chick") and Deodato ("Do It Again - The Fantastic Jazz-Funk of Eumir Deodato"), all released by Verve/Universal. His latest CD for Verve is "Bossa Nova USA," released last May, featuring Dave Brubeck's title track performed by Quincy Jones.

Mr. DeSouteiro has also worked in his native Brazil for TUPI-FM radio station (as musical programmer-DJ as well as hosting his own show, "Jazz Espetacular"), Manchete TV network (anchoring & supervising the "Terça Especial" series for which he interviewed such jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Chuck Mangione, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim etc), Globo TV network (screenplay, coordination and mix for the TV special "João Gilberto & Antonio Carlos Jobim - O Grande Encontro" in 1992, the last time these 2 geniuses performed together, plus the texts and screenplay for the "Minuto da Bossa" series), and as the jazz columnist for the "Tribuna da Imprensa" (Press Tribune) daily newspaper during 29 years (from 1979 to 2008). Before moving to the USA, he also worked as Brazilian correspondent of "Keyboard" magazine (from 1985 to 1994), as a free-lancer to Billboard, Cuadernos de Jazz, Swing Journal and International Music Magazine, and as entertainment-in-flight programmer for several airline companies like Varig Brazilian Airlines (from 1983 to 1998).

Mr. DeSouteiro also had the honor to be associated with some of the world's greatest photographers like Pete Turner (who did the cover photo for Jorge Pescara's CD "Grooves in the Temple," released on his own JSR label and featured on Turner's new book "The Color of Jazz"), Victor Skrebneski (the CD reissue of "Upchurch/Tennyson"), Bruce Weber (Esther Phillips' "For All We Know"), Robert Mappelthorpe ("Brazilian Horizons"), Alen MacWeeney, William Cadge, and Duane Michals (many of the CTI CDs) and so on. He has appeared in several movies and TV series such as the Award Winning documentary movie "Beyond Ipanema," for which he was interviewed alongside Creed Taylor, Lalo Schifrin, Wayne Shorter, Gene Lees and Norman Gimbel.

(PLEASE, DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED MATERIAL; any unsolicited CD or promo packets will be returned. If you wish to submit material, please contact us through comments on this post or through Facebook. Thx!)https://www.facebook.com/arnie.gilberto

People are going to talk about you, especially when they envy you and the life you live. Let them. You affected their lives, they didn't affect yours... you will eventually lose someone you love & love someone you never thought you'd find...

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Frank J. Oteri talks to the singer Jen Shyu about her worldwide travels which have broadened her aesthetic horizons, about the meaning of her self-definition as an "experimental jazz vocalist", about wanting to blend into an ensemble context, about her fascination with Abbey Lincoln, about getting into the jazz idiom when she was 13, about her Asian-American cultural background and its impact on her music, about the political dimensions of jazz, as well as about her duo with bassist Mark Dresser ( New Music Box). --- Franziska Buhre talks to the Austrian bass clarinetist Susanna Gartmayer about her early fascination by vocalists such as Meredith Monk and Yma Sumac, about doubts raised by her arts studies which only increased her interest in improvised music and jazz, about a changing jazz scene in which more and more female musicians make themselves heard and about trying to achieve a sound connected to the spaces she performs in ( TAZ).5. Juni 2015Jon Batiste / Charlie Parker

Jim Farber reports that the pianist Jon Batiste will be the new "Late Show" bandleader for host Stephen Colbert who takes over the show from David Letterman starting 8 September ( New York Daily News). --- In advance of the premiere of the opera "Charlie Parker's Yardbird" Karen Smyles and Elisabeth Perez-Luna talk to the composer Daniel Schnyder, the librettist Bridgette Wimberly and the tenor Lawrence Brownlee, and in the background audio of the interviews you can here small excerpts from the opera which plays Philadelphia's Kimmel Theater from this weekend ( NewsWorks). Shawn E. Milnes gets a first glimpse ( The Daily Beast), and Peter Dobrin has the first review ( Philadelphia Inquirer). Anne Midgette ( Washington Post) and Anthony Tommasini ( New York Times) attended the premiere as well.

6. Juni 2015Brad Terry / Juan-les-Pins

Darren Fishell talks to the clarinetist Brad Terry about his diagnosis with attention deficit disorder and how it "had complicated his efforts to learn to read music or take well to instruction" ( Bangor Daily News). Terry speaks about his musical partner, the young guitarist Peter Herman, about performing with Lenny Breau in the late 1970s, and about having seen Lester Young at an outdoor concert in Bryant Park in New York. In an odd aside the article also mentioned that during the past two years Terry had "borrowed the kitchen floor of Buddy Tate’s New York apartment". --- Verena Fischer-Zernin reports about the 56-year-old tradition of Jazz à Juan, the jazz festival on the French Riviera ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ). She discovers that jazz in the region goes back to the 1920s and talks to some regulars who heard them all, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald or Keith Jarrett.

7. Juni 2015Chick Corea / Antonio Sanchez

Manfred Pabst talks to the pianist Chick Corea about his duo performances with Herbie Hancock, about trying to look ahead in his music instead of looking back, about performing as the most wonderful part of the day (and his own reaction to an audience taking too many photos), about studying scientology but not wanting to convince others of it, about the need to practice, about virtuosity, about electronic instruments and about the biggest influences on his music ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung ). --- Arun Rath talks to the drummer Antonio Sanchez about the challenges of creating the soundtrack for the movie "Birdman" ( NPR). Nate Chinen, meanwhile listens to two of Sanchez's most recent albums ( New York Times).

8. Juni 2015Lizz Wright / Clare Church

Bänz Friedli talks to the singer Lizz Wright about different influences on her art, about the political dimensions of her music after Ferguson and Baltimore, about daily racism, but also about the deep good she has experienced in people ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung ). --- Ryan Haarer talks to the former saxophonist, now drummer Clare Church who had to change instruments due to Cranial Dystonia, a chronic condition which was triggered by her instruments ( 9News).

9. Juni 2015Germany. A Survey / Klaus Doldinger

There have been studies about the living and working condition of jazz musicians in several countries, but the last such study about the situation in Germany is decades old. Now the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt, the Union Deutscher Jazzmusiker (a musicians' interest group) and the IG Jazz Berlin (a local initiative) have commissioned an extensive study undertaken by Hildesheim University and financed by the federal government as well as the regional governments of the states Northrhine-Westfalia, Lower Saxony and Berlin. It aims at a better knowledge of how musicians live, where their income comes from and how they fit within the German social security structures. The results will be made public at the Jazzfest Berlin in early November, together with recommendations for fitting funding measures to support this creative scene. The online study for professional German musicians can be accessed here: Jazzstudie 2015. --- Martina Kaden talks to the German saxophonist Klaus Doldinger about being on stage since 62 years, about his roots in Berlin, about his first performances, about his detour into pop music under the name "Paul Nero", about film music, healthy living, and his recommendations for young musicians ( BZ).

10. Juni 2015... what else ...

Geoff Winston hears a new recording by the bassist and violinist Henry Grimes ( London Jazz News). --- Joe Klopus reports about the American Jazz Walk of Fame in Kansas City which came into existence last year and which received six more medallions last Saturday: for Bennie Moten, Claude 'Fiddler' Williams, Coleman Hawkins, Myra Taylor, Lester Yong and Everette DeVan ( Kansas City Star). --- Franziska Buhre reports about this year's Moers Festival ( TAZ ). --- Ben Ratliff hears Dr. Lonnie Smith at the Jazz Standard in New York ( New York Times). --- The Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University has announced the appointment of its new Executive Director, Wayne Winborne ( IJS, Facebook). Vincent Pelote, longtime archivist at IJS and supporter for all researchers visiting the world's most important jazz archive, had been named its Director of Operations in April already.

Obituaries

We read another obituary about the producer Bruce Lundvall, this one by his friend and biographer Dan Ouellette ( ZealZNC) as well as a belated obituary about the German pianist and singer Wolfgang Sauer ( Westdeutsche Zeitung). --- We learned of the passing of the pianist Ray Kennedy at the age of 58 ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch ), the pianist Corky McClerkin at the age of 72 ( Chicago Tribune), as well as the Canadian drummer Archie Alleyne at the age of 82 ( CBC News).

Last Week at the Jazzinstitut

The 14th Darmstadt Jazzforum will focus on "Gender and Identity in Jazz" from 1st to 4th October 2015. Our call for papers went out earlier this year and lead to many interesting suggestions for papers among which we selected eighteen for our fall conference, documenting a number of different approaches. Now we published the names of the speakers as well as abstracts of their papers on our website ( jazzforum.jazzinstitut.de). We look forward to exciting discussions during the conference.

Closer to this newsletter are two events we co-organize next week. On Wednesday (17 June, 8pm) the Jazzinstitut is part of the 20th Darmstadt Music Talk for which our colleagues and us invited Kerstin Schultz, Darmstadt-based professor for architecture and urban planning who will have us re-think the different relationships between "Music and Architecture" ( Darmstädter Musikgespräche ).

The next day (Thursday, 18 June, 7:30 pm) Wolfram Knauer will moderate the 2nd Mainz Jazz Talk hosted by the jazz department at Mainz University. Daniel Martin Feige, pianist, philosopher and author of the recently published book "Philosophie des Jazz" [philosophy of jazz] (Suhrkamp Verlag) will introduce some of his ideas about what philosophy can learn from jazz, and a panel made up of the saxophonist Angelika Niescier, the guitarist and musicologist Jörg Heuser and the pianist and Mainz professor Sebastian Sternal will then discuss some of the arguments and ask which of Feige's observations they know from their own daily work ( Mainzer Jazzgespräche).